Business student insight: Choosing your elective modules

Student bloggers from our range of Business Masters courses share their advice on choosing your elective modules at Warwick Business School.

Ben Son, MSc Business with Marketing

One of the reasons that I chose Warwick Business School was because of the variety of elective modules available. The core modules provide you with business acumen, whereas the elective modules give you the opportunity to learn specialised skills to differentiate yourself from others. When it comes to choosing your elective module, you may not know which module will be best suited to you. The syllabus and introductory videos provided by WBS are a great resource to help you choose the right module. To help me make the best decison, I decided to create a range of criteria detailing what I wanted to accomplish from studying a particular module.

My first criteria was that I wanted my elective module to be beneifical to my future career path. I wanted to know what specific skills I would learn from my elective module, and how important these skills would be in my desired career sector. Secondly, I wanted the module to match my personal aptitude as I felt that it was important that I have the natural ability to do well in that specific module area. Thirdly, I wanted the module to fit my personal interests because this would hugely influence my learning. I also considered the lecture schedule and assessment methods for the elective modules when making my final choice. Eventually, I decided to take the Marketing Analytics module which I feel was a great choice. I believe all the elective modules available at WBS are definitely worth taking, and therefore it is just a case of finding the right module for you.

Pierluigi Rossi, MSc International Business

Electives modules are a fundamental component of your MSc journey at WBS. Choosing the right module can be challenging because WBS offers a truly comprehensive range of modules, setting them apart from most other business schools. For my MSc programme, I had the opportunity to select two elective modules. Some modules carry a strong practical component that can be related to on-demand hard skills in the job market, while others are more theoretical, and are perfect for exploring a new area of business theory or cultivating your interests.

I decided to tailor my masters to acquire skills in data analytics and hence chose Big Data Analytics in the second term and Business Analytics in the third term. In particular, one of the reasons for choosing Big Data Analytics was because of the background of the module leaders, who manage the Behavioral Science Lab here at WBS. Taking part in their classes was a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain exposure to groundbreaking research in a field that is changing every aspect of how we do business.

Nonetheless, I would have loved the opportunity to study other elective modules such as Behavioral Economics. Due to time constraints and workload limits, this was not possible, and I've had to make the best possible choice for my future career plans. Of course, if the decision proves too hard to come by, the programme team are always available to provide extra information on elective modules, as well as the CareersPlus team who can assist you in evaluating whether the module content is relevant to your future career aspirations.

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